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fidus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈfiː.dʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfiː.dus][1]

Forms

fīdus (feminine fīda, neuter fīdum, comparative fīdior, superlative fīdissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *feiðos, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeydʰós, from the root of fīdō “to trust” and fidēs “faith”.[1][2][3] An inscription has the old spelling ⟨feidus⟩.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Ennius.[2] Köbler's first source is Plautus.[3] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant keeping faith, faithful, loyal, devoted, as Cicero's most faithful wife, also of friendships and in poetry of things, and loyal in allegiance.[2][4] Of actions it meant honest, sincere, and of persons trustworthy, reliable, as Livy's more reliable kinds of men; of things and places it meant safe, of conditions lasting.[2][4] Döderlein says fīdus is trustworthy as a natural quality, while fidēlis is faithful as a moral one.[5]

In Medieval Latin it meant confident, and confidential, secret.[6] It survives in Italian, Spanish and Portuguese fido.[1]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of faithfulness.[2][3]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a faithful wife.[4][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Faithful, loyal, devoted.[2]
  2. Loyal (in allegiance).[2]
  3. Honest, sincere.[2]
  4. Trustworthy, reliable; safe.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Confidential.[6]

Word family

  • fidamen
  • īnfīdus
  • multifidus

Usage notes

Fīdus is also an old form of foedus “treaty”, cited by Varro.[2][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill